Archive for the ‘USA’ Category

Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday unveiled the iPad, the widely and wildly anticipated tablet-style computer that he called “a truly magical and revolutionary product.”

“What this device does is extraordinary,” Jobs said. “It is the best browsing experience you’ve ever had. … It’s unbelievably great … way better than a laptop. Way better than a smartphone.”

The computer will act as a sort of missing link between the two. The model Jobs demonstrated at an invitation-only event in San Francisco operated without a hardware keyboard, with Jobs typing on what he described as a nearly full-size touchscreen keyboard.

“It’s a dream to type on,” he said.

It has a nearly 10-inch screen, runs existing apps from the Apple apps store and is available in 16-gigabyte, 32-gigabyte and 64-gigabyte versions, according to Jobs.

A musical about Barack Obama’s “Yes we can” election campaign premieres in Germany this weekend, including love songs by the president to his wife Michelle and duets with Hillary Clinton.

Even John McCain and Sarah Palin are given stage time, with actors portraying the losing Republican candidates belting out songs on their behalf.

In all, 30 singers, actors and dancers are to perform in the musical “Hope – the Obama Musical Story” when it opens at the Jahrhunderthalle concert hall in Frankfurt in a bilingual mix of English and German. The audience may recognise that many songs quote from the politicians’ stump speeches during the 2008 US presidential campaign.

The venue for the premier seems appropriate since the optimism of Obamania remains largely intact in Germany, about a year after Mr Obama, an accomplished public speaker, became America’s first black president.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, will return to her broadcast roots and take her conservative message to Fox News as a regular commentator, the cable channel announced Monday.

“I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at Fox News,” Palin said in a statement posted on the network’s Web site. “It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news.”

Fox said that according to the multiyear deal, Palin will offer political commentary and analysis on the cable channel, as well as Fox’s Web site, radio network and business cable channel.

She also will host occasional episodes of Fox News’ “Real American Stories,” a series debuting this year that the network said will feature true inspirational stories about Americans who have overcome adversity.

“Governor Palin has captivated everyone on both sides of the political spectrum and we are excited to add her dynamic voice to the FOX News lineup,” Bill Shine, executive vice president of programming, said in a statement.

A CNN special investigation looks into the causes and effects of the Fort Hood shootings, Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN TV.

Thirteen flag-draped coffins left Fort Hood on Friday as authorities searched for a motive in the massacre that left more than 50 casualties at the largest U.S. military base.

Thursday’s mass shooting killed 12 soldiers and one civilian and wounded 38 people at the Fort Hood Army Post in Texas. The suspect in the shooting, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a licensed Army psychiatrist, was among the two dozen who remained hospitalized Friday night.

Hasan was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and was in critical condition but stable, a spokesman said. Investigators were waiting to speak to the comatose Hasan, who is under heavy guard, said Col. John Rossi, the post’s deputy commander.

The bodies of the 13 personnel who died were transported through a “ramp ceremony” to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for a dignified transfer, he said. It was a “truly moving ceremony.”

FBI agents helping investigate the shootings searched Hasan’s apartment on Friday while investigators sifted through the crime scene, Fort Hood’s military processing center, where soldiers report before they go to war.